Team

Lead Perit/i: Chris Briffa Architects

Architectural Design: Chris Briffa Architects

Planning Consulting: Chris Briffa Architects

Structural Engineering: Perit Ivan Muscat

Conservation: Architecture XV, MCG Architects, Giordano Periti

Interior Design: Chris Briffa Architects

Spatial Planning: ERSLI Consultants Limited

Building Systems Engineering: Galea Curmi Engineering

Hydrology Consulting: Sustech Consulting

Mechanical Engineering: Galea Curmi Engineering

Waste Management Consulting: TM Consult

Health & Safety Consulting: JP Health and Safety Consultants

Project Management: Anthony Attard

Sited beside the Sacra Infermeria – reputed to be the most advanced hospital in the Mediterranean for over two centuries – this project called for a retention of the exterior of 1960s Evans Laboratories while converting it into a luxury hospitality resort. The brief also highlighted concern to protect any archaeological remains which may be lying beneath its large car park, in particular the acclaimed Chapel of Bones: an underground crypt and ossuary of the now defunct Nibbia Chapel.

During meticulous historical research, we studied old drawings & photographs of the more interesting buildings preceding Evans; namely the Anatomical Theatre beside Nibbia Chapel and an arcaded school built in 1904. These elegant structures, lost forever during WWII air raids, were a source of inspiration for our design concept, which centres around invoking memories of the architectural ghosts surrounding the site.  

Our proposal aims at resuscitating parts of these foregone structures in the form of transparent, gabion sculptures built to a scale of 1:1. A landmark sculptural installation which respects and recognizes the site’s past, it will also function as garden walls defining original boundaries while containing all the rubble unearthed during the archaeological exploration. A solution which serves not only as an act of preservation and waste management, but also, as a performance celebrating the discoveries which are yet to be exhumed.

Evans building itself, will be externally restored with minimal interventions on some of its windows; elongating some of them will achieve more elegant proportions while improving internal views. The rear façade will be dressed with two, external corner elements, employed to house all building services and external fire escapes, while addressing various climatic challenges. This will ensure minimal intervention within the existing building, while drastically reducing runs of air-conditioning, fresh air and other services. Their aim is to integrate passive design solutions, such as natural ventilation and cooling; with active systems for energy generation and preservation while being detached from the historical envelope and mimic the ghost-like garden walls.  

The interiors will be mainly finished with local and natural materials – such as hardstone & hemp. Our aim is to use both recycled and upcycled elements, such as cardboard partitions and reconstituted masonry. Vernacular elements like the garigor – so ingrained in Malta’s architectural make-up – will also feature in reconstituted stone, within its duplex rooms.

Eventually, when the dust will settle and all findings are brought back to light, a Mediterranean garden will grow instead of the current car park; not only as an attraction for visitors, but also a fitting front garden for the Sacra Infermeria This is what this proposal seeks to achieve: an ephemeral experience, which perhaps for a limited time, becomes tangible testimony to Valletta’s forgotten stories.

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Team

Lead Perit/i: Perit Maurizio Ascione

Architectural Design: Faye Cachia Mintoff

BIM Management: Tuan bui Quang

3D Visualisation: Julian Pellegrino

Architectural Assistance: Mafalda Rebelo

Contemporary architecture in Malta finds itself at a crossroads. Too often, new buildings are reduced to exercises in profit-driven efficiency, ignoring their responsibility to the land, culture, and community they inhabit. The result has been an environment saturated with developments that neither respect their context nor enrich the human experience. This has fuelled a widespread belief that all new buildings are inherently negative. Yet this is not inevitable. Architecture, when rooted in sensitivity, proportion, and material honesty, can reconcile the act of building with the need to protect and enhance its setting.

Djar tat-Tafal was conceived as a direct response to this crisis. Located on a 2,500sqm ridge plot in Santa Maria Estate, Mellieħa, the project consists of two detached villas commissioned by a developer with no end user in mind. In such circumstances, the default response is often to fall back on formulaic “luxury.” Instead, we sought to treat the land as the true client — designing not for an abstract buyer, but for the site itself. This approach demanded flexibility in programme while insisting on a strong connection to context.

The geology of the plot, straddling Blue Clay and Mtarfa member, shaped both name and form. Djar tat-Tafal — “Houses of Clay” — embraces the idea of architecture emerging from the ground. Conceptually, the design recalls Malta’s earliest architectural language: the megalithic temples, which were reinterpreted as a contemporary design solution. A structured grid was placed on the site, shifted, and carved into a field of columns of varying heights and proportions. This rhythm of solids and voids creates spaces of permanence and permeability, framing views while admitting light. Ancillary functions are absorbed into the thickness of these columns, freeing the main interiors to remain open, adaptable, and timeless.

Materiality was drawn from the tones of the ridge itself, allowing the buildings to blend into their setting rather than compete with it. Terracing follows the slope, reducing visual impact while reinforcing the idea of sculpting from the land upward. Light and shadow play dynamically across surfaces, animating spaces with the rhythm of the day and strengthening the sense of rootedness in place.

Ultimately, this project is not presented as a universal formula. Rather, it is a demonstration that new buildings in Malta need not perpetuate the failures of recent decades. Architecture can once again speak of proportion, and sensitivity to context, even in situations where the brief does not demand it.

Djar tat-Tafal stands as an argument for a renewed architectural ethic: one that acknowledges the inevitability of building, but insists that each intervention has the capacity to respect, enrich, and inspire. If pursued consistently — one building at a time — such an approach can begin to reverse the negative perception of development and reassert the role of architecture as a meaningful cultural act..

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Team

Lead Perit/i: Architecture Three Sixty

Architectural Design: Architecture Three Sixty, Architecture Three Sixty

Planning Consulting: Architecture Three Sixty

Structural Engineering: Architecture Three Sixty

Interior Design: Architecture Three Sixty

Project Management: Architecture Three Sixty

Quantity Surveying: Architecture Three Sixty

The proposed extension of Sacred Heart College was developed as a comprehensive masterplan that reimagines the institution’s future through a series of cohesive architectural interventions. The project addresses the College’s growing educational needs while enhancing its cultural, social, and commercial value. The design vision builds upon the existing site fabric, integrating contemporary forms with vernacular references to create spaces that are functional, sustainable, and deeply connected to their context.

A key component of the proposal is the new Child Care and Kindergarten, conceived as a gateway to the College that strengthens the continuum of education from early childhood onwards. Positioned with an independent entrance yet closely linked to the wider campus, the building symbolizes progression, with child care at ground level and kindergarten above. The scheme maximizes site potential through equal emphasis on indoor and outdoor spaces, the use of protective intermediate areas, and the introduction of loggias inspired by Maltese vernacular traditions. Classrooms are designed to maintain direct contact with nature, supported by a semi-permeable screen wall that balances privacy, security, light, and ventilation while integrating greenery into the façade.

The Junior School expansion adds a new floor that accommodates 24 core classrooms along with specialist spaces including a library, laboratories, an art and music room, a multi-sensory room, and dedicated staff facilities. The extension respects the rhythm and proportions of the existing building, with limestone cladding ensuring harmony between old and new while marking the intervention with a contemporary distinction.

In the Senior School, a new staff room replaces the existing facility, offering light-filled spaces with views across the site, supported by recreational amenities such as a rooftop patio, lounge, kitchenette, and dedicated work areas. Similarly, the Convent building is retained and refurbished, transforming its interiors into an indoor recreational hub for students, particularly valuable during the winter months, while its façade is refreshed to align with the new architectural identity of the campus.

The Multi-Use Building represents the most versatile intervention, designed to host a wide range of academic, recreational, and community-oriented activities. Below ground, the project provides 116 parking spaces to address accessibility and convenience. The ground floor integrates a commercial gym, indoor pool, clinics, physiotherapy rooms, workshops, offices, and a multipurpose venue. The roof level is conceived as an open-air sports destination, featuring a running track, spectator stands, padel courts, and football pitches. Its architectural language emphasizes permeability and material richness, with arches referencing the College’s historic apertures, steel mesh for greenery integration, and extensive glazing to dissolve boundaries between interior and exterior. Vertical louvers and garden-like glass panels further enhance the building’s connection to light and nature.

Together, these interventions create a unified vision that preserves the College’s heritage while projecting it into the future. By blending education, recreation, and community functions, the proposal not only enhances student life but also positions Sacred Heart College as a socially and environmentally responsive institution that maximizes the value of its resources for generations to come.

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Team

Principal: Anthony Bonnici, Perit Karl Ebejer

Founded in 2021 by Karl Ebejer and Anthony Bonnici, EBEJER BONNICI is an architectural practice rooted in Malta, with a primary focus on discovering new potentials and worlds in architecture.

The practice is centred around a common understanding that architecture is an experience, and space serves as its universal foundation. Combining rigorous technical expertise with philosophical depth, the studio is dedicated to creating works that challenge conventional boundaries while remaining anchored to the cultural DNA of the Maltese islands. From a hotel made in limestone in a village piazza, to a steel mausoleum, to international work such as residential designs in Baja California Sur, Mexico and Oaji, California, USA the studio’s portfolio reflects its ability to adapt to complex scales and contexts. With Bonnici’s experience leading groundbreaking international projects and Ebejer’s precision in navigating Malta’s challenging planning landscape, EBEJER BONNICI is crafting an architecture that is both globally ambitious and locally resonant. The studio’s latest project, the Maltese Pavilion for the 2025 London Design Biennale at Somerset House, stands as a testament to their dedication to redefining architectural identity in Malta and beyond.

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Team

Senior Architect: Perit Alexandra Manche’

Senior Architect (Graduate): Mattea Fenech

Junior Architect: Davida Bonanno

Project Co-Ordinator/Social Media Manager: Cherise Debattista

Founded in 2020 by Perit Alexandra Manché, Amanche Architecture was born at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic – a time when many young practices struggled simply to survive. What began as a leap of faith has grown into a resilient, women-led studio based in Sliema, working across architecture, interiors, and adaptive reuse. Today, the practice comprises Alexandra as principal, two junior architects, and a studio manager, forming a close-knit team united by curiosity, care, and commitment. At under five years old, Amanche is firmly positioned within the criteria for the Emerging Practice Award.

Our philosophy is simple yet ambitious: every project should leave the built environment better than we found it. We believe architecture has the power to bring joy, to build community, and to create spaces that endure. Our approach is guided by sensitivity to context and history, openness to collaboration, and an ethos that design should feel both personal and meaningful.

In just four years, we have built a portfolio that demonstrates versatility, consistency, and ambition. From housing and hospitality to adaptive reuse and interiors, each project is approached as an opportunity to test ideas, refine our voice, and contribute positively to Malta’s built environment.

What sets Amanche apart is our unapologetic design language. We work with bold colour palettes and highlight architectural features that others often conceal in the pursuit of minimalism. Rather than smoothing over details to appear “modern,” we choose to celebrate character, history, and form; creating spaces that are expressive, distinctive, and memorable.

This commitment is strengthened by a collaborative way of working. Within the studio, we nurture a culture of openness and curiosity; beyond it, we engage engineers, artists, and designers whose input broadens our perspective. We pair this creative exchange with digital tools, AI, and rigorous project management systems to ensure delivery with clarity and precision.

Resilience has been our greatest achievement so far. From navigating the turbulence of Covid-19 to realising ambitious projects like ALBA Guesthouse, each challenge has tested us, sharpened our confidence, and refined our voice. Looking ahead, we aim to continue shaping a woman-led practice that delivers architecture which is joyful, community-oriented, and deeply rooted in Malta’s cultural landscape. In under five years, our portfolio has grown across housing, hospitality, adaptive reuse, and interiors. Whether completed, ongoing, or speculative, every project reflects our core belief: that colour, detail, and honesty of form can enrich daily life and offer a powerful alternative to conformity in the built environment.

Images © Julian Vassallo, Therese Debono

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Team

Lead Perit: Perit Maurizio Ascione

Design Perit: Perit Antonio Lorusso

Architectural Designer: Faye Cachia Mintoff, Piotr Zabek, Mafalda Rebelo, Julian Pellegrino, Wafik Nasri

Architectural Technologist: Tuan Bui Quang, Nadine Adams

Interior Designer: Poppy Cambridge

Architectural Intern: Kristina Camenzuli, Nicole Pisani

Project Manager: Michele Azzopardi

Six years ago, our practice began with a simple ambition: to explore what it means to design in Malta today. We were – and still are – a team of young architects, all under 35, committed not only to designing buildings, but also to searching for something deeper: our architectural identity.

From the beginning, walking became central to our process — walking as observing. Whether sharing lunch in a village piazza, pausing in a narrow street, or tracing the textures of limestone cliffs, these moments of stillness taught us to see. They revealed how scale, proportion, material, and atmosphere come together to shape place. Architecture, for us, begins here: in the act of observation.

This ethos of looking closely has translated into making. Every month, we gather in the studio to experiment with form — cutting foam, modelling in clay, stacking blocks. These workshops are not diversions but fundamental exercises in form-finding and collaboration. They remind us that architecture is not born solely of drawings, but of hands-on exploration, of trial and error, of making.

The significance of making manifested through ISSA, an installation for Time, Space, Existence at the Venice Biennale in 2023. Built entirely by us, using local stone and a process of trial and error, it marked a turning point. It reconnected us with materials, with craft, and with a way of working that felt authentic as architects working in Malta in this day and age.

ISSA became the seed for MINIMA, our first publication. MINIMA was our response to the crisis of contemporary architecture: a built environment too often driven by speed and profit over quality, identity, and the human experience. Our philosophy points towards two guiding references. The first is nature: balance, integration, and timelessness, embodied in elements such as light, air, water, and stone. The second is history: the timeless principles articulated by Vitruvius — order, arrangement, proportion, eurythmy, symmetry, propriety, and economy — reinterpreted for today. From these, we distilled six principles that guide us as a practice and help us through the process of design: pure forms, proportion, geometry, materiality, monochromatism, and the interplay of light and shadow.

This framework has transformed our work. Early commissions often reflected the language of luxury Mediterranean villas — stark white forms and expansive glazing. Over time, however, we began to question this vocabulary. Our trajectory has moved toward a more sensitive architecture, one grounded in context, proportion, and materiality.

Across the past six years, these ideas have unfolded through our portfolio of work, culminating most recently in the design of our new office. This project embodies our journey: a space for experimentation, collaboration, and making. Defined by pure geometric forms and an underlying grid, the office was built with a spirit of exploration. We experimented with materials, textures, and finishes; we tested colourisation and surfaces; we cast concrete desks and built tables which integrated marble offcuts into unique compositions.

The result is a space that marks both our philosophy and progression — the expression of six years of searching, making, and refining. From observation, to making, to a defined architectural identity. It is both a milestone in our practice and a foundation for what is still to come of life.

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Team

Lead Perit/i: Perit Alex Torpiano

Architectural Design: Perit Alex Torpiano

Planning Consulting: Perit Alex Torpiano

Geotechnical Engineering: Perit Adrian Mifsud

Structural Engineering: Andrew Pillow, Kyle Vella, Luke Farrugia, Adam Micallef, Perit Nathan Vella, Perit Ramon Fenech, Perit Anton Muscat Xerri, Perit Jean Paul Vella

Drafting: Daniel Borg, Fernando Dingli, Roland Sultana

The Sustainable Living Complex (SLC) in Msida represents a bold reimagining of how engineering innovation can shape Malta’s future built environment.

Conceived as a landmark for interdisciplinary collaboration, SLC integrates advanced structural systems, sustainable strategies, and cutting-edge research facilities into a cohesive whole, setting a national benchmark for resource-efficient, high-performance buildings.

Strategically positioned along the University Ring Road, SLC is more than an academic facility: it is a living demonstration of how engineering can advance resilience, sustainability, and civic benefit. The project delivers state-of-the-art research laboratories, workshops, and teaching spaces while serving as a testbed for innovative technologies in resource efficiency, aviation, aerospace, and maritime studies. By embedding engineering innovation into its very fabric, SLC becomes both an infrastructure for knowledge creation and a civic asset that enhances the quality of life on campus and beyond.

The project confronted significant technical challenges posed by its location and architectural ambition. Solutions included:

• A hybrid foundation system that navigated existing service tunnels and stabilised adjacent infrastructure through contiguous piled retaining walls.
• A steel transfer structure with inclined columns, engineered to distribute complex loads and accommodate the building’s unique geometry & layouts.
• Diagrid nodes and monumental staircases, requiring bespoke three-dimensional modelling and finite element analysis to ensure precision, safety, and resilience under seismic and wind loads.
• Complex steel-to-concrete interfaces, where innovative reinforcement strategies and advanced anchoring systems were developed to mitigate high stress concentrations and failure risks.

These interventions required not only technical mastery but also ingenuity, with each connection designed as a custom solution, pushing the limits of fabrication and construction techniques in Malta.

Beyond its technical achievements, SLC is a model of sustainability. The building integrates resource-monitoring systems, enabling live data collection to inform future policy-making on energy efficiency and sustainable development. Its design minimises material waste, optimises structural performance, and showcases best-practice approaches to sustainable construction. More importantly, it creates a high-quality, interdisciplinary research ecosystem, fostering collaboration that drives indigenous innovation across sectors critical to Malta’s future resilience.

SLC is not only a building but a national statement on the power of engineering to solve complex problems with civic purpose. By transforming a challenging site into a cutting-edge facility, it exemplifies technical rigour, contextual sensitivity, and long-term relevance. It enhances daily life for students, academics, and researchers, while setting a new benchmark for engineering-led projects in Malta.

Through its ingenuity, precision, and vision, the Sustainable Living Complex stands as a testament to engineering excellence, an innovation that redefines how Malta builds for resilience, sustainability and quality of life.

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Team

Lead Perit/i: Perit Dr Pierre Farrugia/EBD Solutions

Architectural Design: Perit Dr Pierre Farrugia/EBD Solutions

Structural Engineering: Perit Dr Pierre Farrugia/EBD Solutions

Building Systems Engineering: Ing Victor Bonello/Beenel Engineering Solutions

Peer Review: Buro Happold

3D Modelling: Perit Roderick Bugeja

3D Visualisation: Perit Zheni Kostova

Detailing & Drafting: Kyle Gatt

Contractor Site Management: Nigel Borg/GP Group

Project Management: Sapienza & Sullivan, Perit Andrew Sapienza

Site Coordination: Perit Roderick Bugeja

The Voco Bridge demonstrates how engineering ingenuity can transform urban circulation, delivering maximum impact with remarkable efficiency.

Commissioned as part of the Eden Leisure Group’s redevelopment of the Voco Hotel in St Julian’s, the bridge connects three distinct destinations: the Intercontinental Hotel pool deck, the Voco Hotel’s Level 4 public piazza and restaurant, and the public lift stop at Level 6. By resolving these complex multi-level connections in one seamless gesture, the bridge has become both a structural innovation and an urban landmark.

The structural form is a circular tubular steel truss, chosen for its ability to distribute forces efficiently while maintaining an elegant, lightweight appearance. The geometry allows the bridge to achieve both strength and slenderness, with tubular members that balance stiffness and transparency. The result is a structure that hovers gracefully within a dense urban setting, avoiding visual heaviness while delivering robust performance.

Innovation extended into construction. The entire steel superstructure was installed in just one day, a feat enabled by precision off-site fabrication and meticulous logistical planning in one of Malta’s busiest entertainment districts. The deck and stairs, executed in precast concrete, further accelerated assembly, ensuring high quality with minimal disruption to hotel and public operations.

Durability was integral to the design. The steelwork was hot-dip galvanised and coated to resist the harsh coastal environment. Glass balustrades with integrated LED lighting give the bridge a dual identity: rigorous structure by day, civic landmark by night.

Crucially, this innovation was achieved with extraordinary economy. The entire bridge was delivered for under €400,000, proving that advanced engineering can be both ambitious and cost-effective. In terms of value-for-money, the project represents a balance between structural and functional performance and budget discipline.

Functionally, the bridge has transformed circulation within the Voco and Intercontinental complexes, providing safe, universally accessible connections while enhancing the public realm. Guests, staff, and visitors move fluidly between different levels; the once-disjointed site is now reconciled in a single movement. This has strengthened not just the hotel operations but the wider urban fabric of St Julian’s.

The Voco Bridge embodies engineering innovation on multiple fronts:

• Form: a circular tubular truss, rarely applied in Malta.

• Method: one-day installation with precast integration.

• Durability: galvanised steel and robust finishes.

• Identity: a structure that is both functional and symbolic.

• Economy: delivered at a relatively low cost for its scale and complexity.

In combining structural elegance, sustainable construction, rapid delivery and civic contribution, the Voco Bridge sets a new benchmark for pedestrian infrastructure in Malta. It demonstrates that innovation is not measured by cost or scale, but by the intelligence of design and the value it creates for people and place.

Images © EBD Solutions

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Team

Client: AX Group

Lead Perit/i: C&K Architecture

Architectural Design: C&K Architecture

Interior Design: AX Developments

Planning Consulting: ADI

Geotechnical Engineering: SCE

Structural Engineering: SCE

Building Systems Engineering: E&M Engineering

Fire Engineering: Fabio Stivala

Mechanical & Electrical Engineering: E&M Engineering

Project Management: Jags

Hotels, especially those with a particular focus on wellness, have become spaces that reinterprete and elevate the ideals of quality of life and sophistication we aspire to. With unparalleled site specificity the “Verdala Wellness Hotel” seeks to embody this richness, offering guests an elevated hospitality experience through the carefully crafted aura of its spaces defined by a warm material palette of granite, marble, plaster, carpet, and raw wood.

The solid mass is perforated to create permeability on the ground plane across a triple void pyramidal reception area stretching from one end of the building to the other – dissolving boundaries and enhancing public connectivity – from the public street across to the more private hotel gardens on the other side of the building offering uninterrupted panoramic views across the valley and beyond. This same internal hollow subdivides the building programmatically and is linked by bridges at the respective levels. Planimetrically, the structural framework of the building is twisted for two primary reasons: firstly emanating from a somewhat egoistic desire to maximise on strategic viewpoints; and secondly from a sense of civic awareness to provide a skewed vista and avoid direct frontal confrontation with the buildings across the street. Volumetrically, the building responds to its context: from a sense of solidity at the entrance, reflecting the townscape, to a layered, eroded façade that echoes the Maltese geological formations. These erosions create intimate spaces, primarily at the lower level housing the spa, while the landscape is designed to extend upward, integrating seamlessly with this same level. The hotel celebrates the dialogue between the ridge, the landscape, and the street, a spa area which incorporates a pool which is at once indoors and indoors – spaces flowing from outdoors to indoors merely separated by a glass sheet.

As a respectful gesture toward the rear residential block to the East — and with the aim of improving views and enhancing outlook both from the residential apartments and from within the hotel — the building mass on that side is shaved and re-oriented away from the residential block. Ultimately, the building is gently sculpted to follow the contours of the landscape, striving toward a timeless expression of architecture.

The Verdala Wellness Hotel transcends mere accommodation, becoming a sculpted experience where architecture, landscape, and atmosphere converge. Every form, void, and material has been carefully considered to engage the senses, foster well-being, and create moments of discovery. From the dialogue with its surrounding context to the intimate spaces within, the hotel embodies a harmonious balance between sophistication and serenity, offering guests not just a stay but an immersive journey that evokes emotions lingering in memory.

Images © Kurt Arrigo, Julian Vassallo, Ramon Portelli

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Team

Lead Perit/i: Valentino Architects

Architectural Design: Valentino Architects

Planning Consulting: Valentino Architects

Geotechnical Engineering: Terracore

Structural Engineering: Perit Peter Zammit

Interior Design: Valentino Architects

Landscaping Design: Melina Scodanibbio Garden Design

Building Systems Engineering: MTS Consulting

Project Management: Projects Department within MIA

Located just metres from the runway, the new VIP Terminal at the Malta International Airport offers an alternative to the main terminal experience – one that is composed, efficient, and intentional – reflecting the building’s operational purpose.

With separate access and a full concierge service, the terminal allows travellers to bypass standard airport procedures in favour of a quieter, more personal journey.

The VIP terminal has long been in operation as a detached building with two wings: the west wing dedicated to Commercially Important Persons (CIP) and the east reserved for Ministerial and Diplomatic use. The project brief called for the demolition and reconstruction of the CIP terminal, expanding its capacity to meet growing demand – whilst retaining the east wing.

The stone structure of the former CIP terminal was carefully deconstructed: its limestone blocks salvaged, sliced, and reworked to reveal fresh surfaces. Each piece was hand-textured with the traditional ‘mannarett’ chisel, a tool long used by Maltese stoneworkers. This gave the building a new stone skin, rich in texture and rhythm, while avoiding the environmental cost of new stone.

The recycled stone was made central to the building’s aesthetic: a clear demonstration of how Malta’s precious stone, too often sent to landfill during demolition, can be elevated to meet the standards of a high-end architectural project. This is both a sustainable gesture and a cultural one, embedding the new terminal with the material memory of its predecessor.

The design was guided by two clear intentions: First, to create a strong sense of place: ensuring travellers immediately recognise that they have arrived in Malta, not through overt symbols, but through the atmosphere of the spaces, their proportions and materials. Second, to ensure the new building sits comfortably alongside the retained east wing, distinct yet complementary.

The architecture is deliberately elemental: thick stone walls, rough plaster, and filtered daylight. These are not generic luxury materials, but ones that speak authentically of Malta: sun-bleached, tactile, and enduring. The ground-level limestone walls give the terminal a grounded presence rooted in the island’s architectural heritage. Above, a white plastered volume contrasts with the stone, offering calm and shelter to the spaces formed between the stone blocks below.

The interiors balance openness with privacy: a generous main lounge on the ground floor filled with natural light, and intimate first-floor suites with private terraces overlooking the runway. Above, an uncluttered roof supports a large solar array that generates a significant share of the terminal’s energy needs.

What sets this terminal apart is its deep engagement with place. Rather than relying on imported finishes or high-tech spectacle, the terminal offers something quieter and more enduring: a contemporary expression of Maltese identity, rooted in craft, care, and permanence.

Images © Julian Vassallo

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